Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Gonzalez, Zimmermann in Games 1-2

Gio Gonzalez will start Game 1 of the National League Division Series.

Gio Gonzalez won't get a chance to notch his 22nd win of the regular season. He'll have to settle for a chance to notch the very first win of the postseason.

Gonzalez was scratched from his scheduled start tonight against the Phillies and told to begin preparing to take the mound for Game 1 of the National League Division Series, which will be played either Saturday in San Francisco or Sunday in Atlanta, St. Louis or Los Angeles.

"It means a lot," the left-hander said of his designation as the Nationals' postseason ace. "Especially with such a great rotation we have, some guys that could easily take that and deserve it. I'm just grateful to even be mentioned in that conversation. If they feel like they want me to put out in the first one, I'm going to give it all I've got."

Davey Johnson made his decision official this afternoon, confirming Gonzalez will start Game 1 of the NLDS, with Jordan Zimmermann starting Game 2. The order of the rest of the Nationals' rotation will depend on their first-round opponent.

"If it's Atlanta, we'll probably go with a lefty," the manager said. "If it's St. Louis, probably [Edwin] Jackson. I'll figure that out. I haven't really gone into all the match-ups. That's just in my head."

Gonzalez could have started tonight's game and still kept himself in line to pitch Sunday. But the possibility of a Saturday start to the postseason convinced Johnson to skip his ace's regular-season finale and tell him to begin preparing for this weekend.

Gonzalez isn't entirely sure what his preparation will entail, when he'll throw off a bullpen mound since he may not know until tomorrow night when the game will be played.

"That's one of those things me and [pitching coach Steve McCatty] are going to have to sit down and talk about. Again, this is a learning curve for me. I don't know know how to prepare myself for something like this. Some way, somehow I'll find it and I'll try to figure it out. We've got guys who can lead the way and can help lead me where I need to be."

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comments:

Congrats again to the Nats for a wonderful season. The celebration last night was UNREAL!!!! We really need to tank these last two games, and hope the Reds really want to have the best record for homefield. If we can get the Giants, we match up pretty well, as we've already beaten both Cain (if I remember right) and Lincecum this season . Anyhoo, my wife, father-in-law, and myself will be at Game 3. Can't wait. GYFNG!!!

So all the many many many comments about who will be pitching, and quite honestly, its the same 4 guys Davey has gone with the entire year. I think I mentioned that it would be very difficult to remove Jackson from that start since he has been with the team from day one of this great season but I won't break my arm patting myself on the back.

So much gnashing of teeth and agonizing over things that really are quite simple. Davey stays with what has worked all year. Just get used to that. No magic tricks, no minor league AAA callups. Just the guys who have day in and day out produced one of the top records in baseball and have worked with each other to get where we are right now.

We are all watching the same baseball games, but we draw different inferences from them.

When Lannan was sent down back in March, a friend asked me how this was possible. I wrote back and said Detwiler had a much greater upside than Lannan.

I think I was right in my note to my friend. However, I believe this season has proven Lannan to be the better candidate for the post-season.

Detwiler seems to lack maturity. He walks pitchers and walks lead-offs and shows this odd demeanor, like a little league pitcher who's embarrassed in front of the girl he likes in 4th grade. He just has a very odd affect at these times.

Lannan does not have the raw talent of Detwiler. But if I had to pick a guy to be in my foxhole--or in a key game in the playoffs, when the thing that mattered most was character--I would go with John Lannan.

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About the Author

Mark Zuckerman has covered the Nationals since the franchise arrived in D.C. He's been a member of the Baseball Writers' Association of America since 2001 and is a Hall of Fame voter. Email mzuckerman@comcastsportsnet.com.